Bank of america cash rewards card

  Bank of America Credit Cards

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Annual Fee

No annual fee

Typical Signup Offer

20,000 points

$500 initial spend

($200 net value, .40/$)

Signup Bonus Chart

Bonus Categories

3-5.25% on 1 category of your choice

2-3.5% Groceries and Wholesale Clubs

1-1.75% Everything Else

3%% Foreign Transaction Fee

For anyone who can move $100,000 in investment or retirement assets to Merrill Lynch, this card earns a 5,25% reward rate on your choice of bonus categories (Gas, Online Shopping, Dining, Travel, Drug Stores, and Home Improvement + Furnishings). You can even change your category every month.

If you can't qualify for the higher reward rates, the reward rate is 3%, and the card is much less interesting.

Jump to

• Bank of America Travel Card Options
• Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program
• Signup Bonus
• Premium Rewards Card Airline Incidental Credit
• Using the Card for your Everyday Spending
• Other Notable Benefits

Bank of America Cash Reward Card options

There is a student version of this card. In addition, Bank of America issues a number of other credit cards that have historically had the same earning structure of the Cash Rewards card—the Susan Komen, World Wildlife, and U.S. Pride cards, and a set of cards for each baseball team. It is still unclear if these variants will offer the new "pick your category" reward rates, or if they will continue to only offer the 3% rate on the gas category. It is also unclear whether the new restriction on one Cash Rewards card every 24 months applies to these other card variants.

There is a business version of a Cash Rewards card, but it offers bonus rewards on completely different categories, and it requires separate assets in business accounts to qualify for the bonus rewards.

Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program

Bank of America operates a "Preferred Reward" program that provides extra benefits to their customers, based on the total amount of assets they have at Bank of America and Merrill Edge. Among the most valuable benefits is a boost to the rewards earned from many of Bank of America's credit cards. Preferred Reward Program.

If you have over $100,000 in assets, you'll be a Platinum Honors member, and get a 75% reward bonus. If you have between $50-100,000 in assets, you'll be a Platinum member, and get a 50% reward bonus. And, if you have at least $25,000 in assets, you'll be a Gold member, and get a 25% reward bonus.

This can make a big difference in how competitive a Bank of America rewards card is, compared to the competition. For example, the Bank of America Cash Rewards card earns 3% on the category of your choice, which is pretty good. But, if you have $100,000 in combined assets at BOA and Merrill, you'll get a 75% reward bonus, and the card will earn 5.25% instead, which is much better. Similarly, the Travel Rewards cards earns 1.5% on everyday purchases, which is less attractive than a good no-annual-fee cash-back cards (which earn 2%). However, with the 7%% bonus, they earn 2.625% instead, which is the best permanent cashback rate of any no-annual-fee card.

Even if you have that much money, you don't want to keep tens of thousands of dollars around in a low-interest rate checking account. But, you don't have to. If you have an existing retirement account, or investment assets, that you can transfer over to Merrill Lynch, you can qualify for the extra rewards, without any substantial additional expense. Your existing mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, stocks, and other investments should transfer over, without you having to sell them, and you won't incur any fees, except potentially a small account transfer or closing fee at your existing broker. Rates for any future sales or purchases are comparable to what is available elsewhere. And you don't need to move over all your assets, just enough to qualify.

Collecting the Signup Bonus

• The signup bonus on the Cash Rewards card is a not that interesting. You'll receive $200 (with $500 initial spend). The primary reason to get the card is for the bonus category reward rates. In the past, we would have recommended signing up for the Premium Rewards card (for its 50,000 point bonus) and converting it to a Cash Rewards card. But with the new restrictions on getting the Premium Rewards card, you are more likely to have to get the Cash Rewards card directly.
• There are restrictions to earning the signup bonuses multiple times. You aren't eligible for the Cash Rewards card, if you've received one in the last 24 months. But, you don't have to cancel it, in order to apply for another card.. In addition, you are still subject to BOA's overall rules of two new cards every three months, three new cards every year, and four new cards every two years.

Bonus categories

Up through 2018, the Cash Rewards card earned 3% on gas. Starting in 2019, it earns 3% in one of category of your choice of:

• Gas
• Dining
• Drug Stores
• Home Improvements & Furnishings
• Online Shopping
• Travel (and Rent)

At the maximum Preferred Rewards level, the 3% rate turns into a 5.25% rate. You can even change your category every month, so you could earn 5.25% on online shopping in one month, and 5.25% on Home Improvement in another month.

However, bonus rewards are capped on the first $2,500 of spending each quarter. Given that you can a Platinum Honors member earns 2.625% on any purchase with the Travel or Premium Rewards card, the Cash Rewards card earns an extra 2.625% on its bonus categories, capped at a maximum of $262.50 in extra rewards per year.

Since the bonus rewards are capped, it can be useful to get multiple cards. It is also generally better to use the card for categories like online shopping and home improvement, rather on categories like gas and dining, where you can already earn high reward rates from other cards.

Keep in mind that most rent or homeowners association charges are classified as part of BOA's travel category and for many people will be an easy way to qualify for the 3-5.25% reward rate.

The card also earns 2% at grocery store and warehouse clubs, which turns into 3.25% at the Platinum Honors level. But, since spending in these categories counts against the cap, you'll want to focus on the the choose your 3% categories, and only use the card at the 2% categories to fill in any remaining cap space.

Other Notable Benefits

• Access to Mastercard luxury hotel program. When you book at one of the participating hotels, you'll get an number of valuable benefits, like free breakfast, a $100 hotel credit, a room upgrade, and late checkout.Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks
• Free ShopRunner membership. Like all World Elite Mastercards, your card entitles you to a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which provides free two-day and return shipping from around 150 of the largest online retailers. ShopRunner
• DoorDash and Hello Fresh discounts. Cardmembers who have a DoorDash membership get $5 off their first two orders each month when paid for by their Mastercard. If you don't have a free membership from Chase, you can get your first three months membership for free through Mastercard. You also get a 5% credit back on each HelloFresh purchase.
• Free museum entry. As with all Bank of America credit cards, you'll get free admission to hundreds of museums on the first weekend of every month. Admission is for the cardholder only. Guests are not included, nor are any special exhibitions and other ticketed shows. Museums on Us.
• BankAmeriDeals. Bank of America has a shopping discount program that works like Amex Offers. To get each discount, you'll need to "activate" it through their website. Once activated, discounts are automatically applied when you use your card for the corresponding purchase. Most deals are cash-back based (typically 10%). BankAmeriDeals.

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